Is ED-1 Still Available in Los Angeles? It Didn't Expire — It Became Permanent Law

Is ED-1 Still Available in Los Angeles? It Didn't Expire — It Became Permanent Law

Yes — ED-1 is still available in Los Angeles, and it is bigger than it has ever been. The confusion is understandable: Executive Directive 1 started as an emergency order Mayor Karen Bass signed in her first week, and emergency orders sound temporary. But ED-1 did not sunset. In December 2025 the City Council voted unanimously to fold it into permanent municipal code. The mayoral directive is the part that ended; the fast track it created is now law.

If your feasibility read still treats ED-1 as a directive that could vanish with the next administration, update it.

> Nearly 47,000 affordable units are now in the ED-1 pipeline — the program is not winding down, it is the busiest it has ever been.

What does ED-1 actually do for a 100% affordable project?

ED-1 is a processing tool, not a zoning bonus. For a qualifying 100% affordable project, it swaps the slow discretionary path — hearings, subjective review, appeals — for ministerial, administrative approval against objective standards. The original directive told the City to finish review within 60 days of a complete application and to clear permits, utility releases, and certificates of occupancy on tight timelines. On the codified path there are no public hearings, no appeals, and no separate CEQA review of the approval.

That is the whole value: predictability. Big affordable deals live and die on tax-credit schedules, bond windows, and financing timing. Cutting months of administrative uncertainty is worth more than most value engineering.

Where did the density go? Meet AHIP and CHIP

Here is where ED-1 gets muddled. People blur the streamlined process together with the incentives — the extra density, height, and floor area. Those are now two separate, codified programs.

The incentives moved into the Citywide Housing Incentive Program (CHIP), operative February 2025. CHIP's 100%-affordable track is the Affordable Housing Incentive Program (AHIP), which layers local density, height, and floor-area bonuses on top of State Density Bonus Law, with 99-year affordability covenants. The streamlined approval was codified separately in December 2025 as the Affordable Housing Streamlining Program (LAMC 12.22 A.40). In practice a 2026 project runs on both: AHIP for how much you can build, the streamlining ordinance for how fast it clears. "ED-1" is now shorthand for that pairing.

Who still qualifies — and who does not?

The fast track is narrow on purpose. It is for 100% affordable projects that fit within objective standards. A project drops out the moment it needs a legislative action — a General Plan amendment, zone change, height-district change, variance, or subdivision — or a Coastal Development Permit. And it does not apply in single-family or more restrictive zones, which quietly disqualifies a lot of parcels owners assume are eligible.

Later revisions added guardrails that still bind: no development on National Register, California Register, or City-designated historic sites; environmental screening on very-high-fire and industrial parcels; and Rent Stabilization replacement, right-of-return, and relocation obligations where tenants are involved. ED-1 was never a license to ignore zoning, building code, or fire-life-safety — only the discretionary hearing.

The practical read for a 2026 site

The real change is a mindset flip. ED-1 stopped being a bet on one mayor's priorities and became a durable piece of the code — which is exactly why the largest ED-1 project to date, the roughly 3,200-unit Viva L.A. at Warner Center, could be unveiled in July 2026 as a $2 billion, 100%-affordable high-rise. The question on a site is no longer whether ED-1 will still be here. It is whether your parcel clears AHIP's incentives and the streamlining program's objective standards without tripping a single-family zone, a legislative ask, or a historic flag.

This is a read on city housing programs, not legal advice, and eligibility is fact-specific — confirm a site's zoning, overlays, and tenant status before you underwrite the timeline. The headline you may have half-heard is simply backwards. The program built to be temporary is now the most permanent affordable-housing tool the city has.

Sources

Office of Mayor Karen Bass — "Mayor Bass Unveils Largest Affordable Housing Project Under Her Executive Directive One" (Jul 15, 2026), on the ~47,000-unit pipeline and the December 2025 vote making ED-1 permanent: https://mayor.lacity.gov/news/mayor-bass-unveils-largest-affordable-housing-project-under-her-executive-directive-one

Los Angeles City Planning — Citywide Housing Incentive Program (CHIP), covering AHIP, MIIP, and the 99-year covenant requirement: https://planning.lacity.gov/plans-policies/citywide-housing-incentive-program

Los Angeles City Planning — Executive Directive 1 (ED 1) program page: https://planning.lacity.gov/project-review/executive-directive-1

LADBS — Executive Directive 1 and Implementation Guidelines: https://dbs.lacity.gov/executive-directive-1-and-implementation-guidelines

OpenScope Studio — "Mayor Karen Bass' 3rd Revision to Executive Directive 1 (ED1)" (Jul 16, 2024), on the July 1, 2024 revision, the historic and fire-zone exclusions, and the closed ADU loophole: https://openscopestudio.com/los-angeles-mayor-karen-bass-3rd-revision-to-executive-directive-1-ed1/

121 Design Build — "Los Angeles Affordable Housing Project: ED1 Milestone" (Jul 28, 2026), on the Affordable Housing Streamlining Ordinance (LAMC 12.22 A.40 / 9.4.8, effective Dec 19, 2025) and Viva L.A. at Warner Center: https://www.121designbuild.com/blogs/los-angeles-affordable-housing-project-ed1-milestone-2026-07-28